Category Archives: 2012

Presentation

This month we have an intriguing mix of speakers who have their finger on the pulse of human-powered transportation: From car batteries that mimic the ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) our cells use for intracellular energy transfer to bicycles that use ATP more directly. As Boulder continues to strive for carbon reduction, transportation may not play the biggest role, but its evolution will literally drive behavioral changes that will echo throughout our communities’ energy use patterns. Hear how the present is meeting the future and join in the lively discussion and Q&A to close.

Speaker Info

Carl Lawrence has been at the forefront of clean, efficient transportation technology for most of the last three decades. His concentration on first and last mile issues has led him to the idea stages of Swift Tram, Inc. where he serves as CEO.

Zane Selvans is a computational geoscientist, cyclist, and urbanist. He works as an analytical consultant to climate advocates and volunteers for Community Cycles as a member of their Advocacy Committee. He’s also the most recent appointee to Boulder’s Transportation Advisory Board. He believes that the best transportation solution is a dense but livable city, optimized for human powered movement.

Ms. Krista Nordback is a Professional Engineer with ten years experience in civil infrastructure system design and construction for transportation and water infrastructure. She is currently a completing her doctorate in Civil Engineering focusing on transportation through the Center for Sustainable Infrastructure Systems program at the University of Colorado Denver. She has served 5 years on the City of Boulder’s citizen Transportation Advisory Board and was recently appointed to the Bicycle Committee of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies.

Mike Wilson is an Energy Consultant and Manager of Solar PV, Solar Thermal, LED Lighting and EV systems and has worked as a consultant in the Denver metro area since March 2008. Mike has added level 2&3 EV charging systems into his portfolio, blending his understanding of the automotive world and renewables as we move to electric cars and other clean fuel sources.

Ron Horstman is presently serving as President of Motion Dynamics Inc, and Atomic Remediation labs Inc., and is developing and bringing to market several innovative technologies including the Bio-LED lighting technologies, energy storage technologies, and fast charging battery technologies.

Randy Hayes, Rain Forest Action Network Founder

Presentation

Randy Hayes has been at the forefront of grassroots environmental activism for over three decades. Acting upon the Rainforest Action Network mission to “campaigns for the forests, their inhabitants and the natural systems that sustain life by transforming the global marketplace through education, grassroots organizing and non-violent direct action,” Hayes and his affiliates have held large corporations accountable for their actions and inspired wide-spread and diverse citizen engagement. RAN has had numerous successes in its campaigns against logging companies, banks, and vehicle manufacturers; and, most recently, Hayes was arrested for participating in non-violent protest against the Keystone XL pipeline.
At his March 22nd presentation, Hayes will discuss opportunities and challenges he has faced in his career as an environmental leader. Furthermore, Hayes will share his thoughts on best practices for true environmental change and how each of us, individually and collectively, can make meaningful and impactful change – a message he is spreading through the creation of his new organization, Foundation Earth.

Background Info

Randy Hayes, Rainforest Action Network founder, has been described in the Wall Street Journal as “an environmental pit bull.” He works from Washington DC at Foundation Earth, a new organization rethinking a human order that works within the planet’s life support systems. As a former filmmaker, he is a veteran of many high-visibility corporate accountability campaigns and has advocated for the rights of Indigenous peoples. He served seven years as President of The City of San Francisco Commission on the Environment, and as Director of Sustainability in the office of Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown (now governor). As a wilderness lover, Hayes has explored a bit in the High Sierras, the Canadian Rockies and the rainforests of the Amazon, Central America, Congo, Southeast Asia and Borneo.

Randy Hayes is a hero and a visionary — a radical messenger with the mentality of a Madison Avenue ad executive who is selling just one thing, saving the world before it is too late. – Adam Werbach, Former President of the Sierra Club

Presentation PowerPoint

Laurent Meillon, Solar Thermal Alliance of Colorado, Co-Founder

Presentation

The newly-released Colorado Solar Thermal Roadmap, conceived of by the Solar Thermal Alliance of Colorado, is a strategic plan to make Colorado a global leader in solar thermal development. Adoption, installation, manufacturing, and research & development of solar thermal technologies could boost Colorado’s economy, generate jobs, and help build a sustainable energy future. Solar thermal technologies are promising alternatives to environmentally hazardous fossil fuel-burning heating sources.

Colorado is strategically poised to seize national leadership in the solar thermal industry—and the vast economic benefits that come with it. Due to Colorado’s dramatic daily temperature swings, abundant sunshine, cold groundwater, and annual heating loads, solar thermal heating technologies perform better in Colorado than in any other state according to researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Florida Solar Energy Center.

Laurent Meillon presented on the Colorado Solar Thermal Roadmap, the economic and environmental benefits of this technology, and the path forward for solar thermal development.

Background Info

Laurent Meillon is a co-founder of STAC, the Solar Thermal Alliance of Colorado, a joint venture of CRES and COSEIA to create a long-term roadmap for solar thermal in our state. Meillon is also the director of Capitol Solar Energy, a Colorado business with 30 years of continuous focus on solar thermal. Capitol Solar Energy focuses on the design, installation and service of solar thermal systems, ranging from simple domestic hot water systems, to more complex residential combination systems addressing hot water, space heating and a pool or spa, to even larger commercial or multi-family solar thermal systems. Since receiving an MBA from Madison, WI and through his 20 year professional career, Meillon has focused on business development in various industries, as well as environmental activism.

Presentation Power Point

Learn More

Leslie Glustrom, Research Director and Founding Member of Clean Energy Action;

Xcel Energy Representatives Were Invited, But Declined

Presentation Synopsis

Leslie Glustrom has been a citizen intervenor at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) since 2005; the PUC regulates generation mix and consumer pricing for Colorado utilities including Xcel Energy, the largest utility in the state. Leslie has provided extensive research and data on coal supply issues, coal pricing and renewable energy opportunities and how these issues affect Xcel and their electricity portfolio.

At this Clean Energy Action presentation, Leslie provided context for what the future holds for Xcel – both in Boulder with the recent passage of 2B and 2C – and state-wide.

Some of the following questions were addressed:

What is the status and future of Xcel’s renewable energy program in Colorado?

What is the status and future of Xcel’s efficiency program (including Demand Response)?

What have previous rate increases been for? What about the present rate increase request? What rate increases can be expected in the coming years and why?

What are Xcel’s plans with respect to its remaining coal plants?

What are the plans for Windsource going forward?

What is happening with the Smart Grid project?

What is happening with Solar Gardens?

Background Info

Leslie Glustrom, Research Director and co-founder of Clean Energy Action, is trained as a biochemist and has spent over 30 years in a variety of roles, including science writer, policy analyst, college instructor and research lab manager. In 2005, upon deciding to commit herself to full-time work on climate change, Leslie began intervening at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission and focused primarily on Xcel’s generation and rates. In February 2009, Leslie authored an extensively referenced report on US coal supplies entitled, “Coal—Cheap and Abundant—Or Is It? Why Americans Should Stop Assuming that the US Has a 200-Year Supply of Coal.” Leslie now meets with regulatory staff and citizen activists in many states to raise awareness about US coal supply and cost issues while continuing her work as a citizen intervenor at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.

Xcel Energy is Colorado’s largest electric utility, providing 55% of Colorado’s electricity to more than 1.3 million customers. Xcel’s energy portfolio is a mix of traditional fossil fuels including coal and natural gas, and renewable energy sources including wind, solar, and biomass sources. Xcel Energy is expanding their energy portfolio to include more renewables, and states they are on track to meet Colorado’s Renewable Energy Standard by the target date of 2020. Additionally, per the passage of the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act, Xcel Energy is set to retire or refuel 900 megawatts of coal burning capacity by 2018.